How to Identify Soursop Fruit, What It Looks Like, and Why You Should Eat It
Soursop, also sold as graviola or guanabana, is a large, spiny green fruit with white, custardy flesh and a sweet, tangy flavor. It's a good source of vitamin C and fiber. You can eat this tropical fruit fresh or blend it into drinks and desserts.
Identifying Soursop Fruit
Soursop is easy to recognize by its shape and its green, prickly exterior. The fruit ranges from oval to cordate, which means heart-shaped, to kidney-like shapes, and many come out lopsided or curved, so an irregular appearance is normal. It runs about 4 to 12 inches long and up to 6 inches wide, and a big one can weigh several pounds.
The skin is leathery and covered in flexible spines. Unripe fruit is dark green, and it turns a dull, slightly yellowish green as it ripens. When the spines sit far apart, the fruit is ready to eat. Inside you'll find fibrous white pulp that pulls away easily from the rind. The juicy flesh is dotted with glossy black seeds, and a large fruit can hold dozens.
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Soursop has a few relatives with bumpy green skin, including sweetsop and atemoya. Atemoya fruit tops out around 6 inches and often looks like a small artichoke, and sweetsop tastes plainly sweet where soursop has a tang.
Soursop Taste
Soursop has a sweet and tangy flavor with a slightly acidic and sour taste, which is where the name comes from. Most people describe a fruity blend of banana, strawberry, coconut, mango and pineapple, with citrus notes running through it. The aroma is tropical, a musky, pineapple-like scent, and some notice a strong floral fragrance too. The texture is soft and custard-like. Some varieties run more sour than others, so look for ones labeled sweet.
How to Eat Soursop
Keep unripe fruit on the counter, and use refrigeration for ripe soursop, which keeps for a few days. To eat it fresh, cut the fruit in half, scoop out the soursop pulp and finish with a thorough seed removal, because the seeds are toxic. The pulp blends into a smoothie, goes into ice cream and baked goods, and mixes into fruit salads. It also works as a dessert topping, and as a topping for oatmeal or yogurt.
For juice, peel the fruit, complete the seed removal and blend the pulp with water in a blender. Juice straining gives you a smooth drink, or you can leave it thick. Flavor it with milk or lime juice, honey, vanilla or ginger. Soursop is also cooked into a custard with milk and sugar.
Soursop tea is made by steeping the leaves in boiled water for about 10 minutes. Regular drinking has been linked to movement problems like those in Parkinson's disease, so treat it as an occasional cup.
Nutritional Value of Soursop Fruit
Soursop is a good source of vitamin C and fiber. A 225-gram serving has about 149 calories, 7 grams of fiber and 626 milligrams of potassium, with almost no fat. Smaller amounts of B vitamins, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc come along with them. Most of the carbohydrate is natural sugar, so the fruit is sweet and filling at the same time.
Health Benefits
Nutrients are a great reason to eat soursop fruit. Vitamin C supports the immune system and fiber supports digestion, though those links come from what the nutrients do in general, not from studies on soursop itself.
Soursop leaves and stems have long been used in traditional medicine for inflammation, infections, coughs and diarrhea. In test tubes, extracts have shown antioxidant and antibacterial effects, and in animals they have changed blood sugar levels. Researchers have focused on compounds called acetogenins, although human studies are lacking.
Side Effects and Precautions
Soursop is best enjoyed in moderation, and every seed should come out first because the seeds are toxic. Larger amounts of the fruit, and regular tea made from the leaves, have been linked to movement problems like those in Parkinson's disease, and researchers suspect a compound called annonacin. A large amount at once may cause nausea and vomiting. A few groups should check with a doctor or care team before eating soursop or using it as a supplement:
- People taking blood pressure or diabetes medicine
- People taking carbamazepine
- People with Parkinson's disease, which soursop might make worse
- Anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding
- Anyone in cancer treatment or with a PET scan coming up
Your First Soursop
Pick fruit with a dull, yellowish-green skin and spines that sit far apart, and plan to eat it soon after. A small serving is a good way to find out how you like the flavor. Ripe fruit keeps in the refrigerator for a few days, and a tree you grow yourself should bear fruit between late summer and early fall.
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Frequently asked questions
Does soursop taste sweet or sour?
It is sweet and tangy with a little acidity, and most people compare it to a mix of strawberry and citrus fruits.
Are soursop seeds poisonous?
The seeds are toxic and should always be removed before you eat the fruit or blend it into juice.
Can you eat soursop every day?
Soursop is best eaten in moderation, because larger amounts of the fruit have been linked to movement problems like those in Parkinson's disease. If you want it to be a regular part of your diet, talk with your doctor first.
How can you tell when a soursop is ripe?
The skin changes from dark green to a dull, slightly yellowish green, and the spines sit far apart.
Is soursop safe with blood pressure or diabetes medicine?
It may not be. Soursop can lower blood pressure and blood sugar, and the effects can add up with your medicine, so check with your doctor or care team before eating it.
References
National Tropical Botanical Garden, "Annona muricata - Plant Detail - Tropical Plants Database," https://ntbg.org/database/plants/detail/annona-muricata
UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions, "Sweetsop, Soursop, and Atemoya," https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/home/plants/edible-plants/fruits/atemoya
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, CTAHR Nutrition Center, "Soursop," https://nutritioncenter.ctahr.hawaii.edu/soursop/
WebMD, "Graviola: Overview, Uses, Side Effects, Precautions, Interactions, Dosing and Reviews," https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-1054/graviola
WebMD, "Health Benefits of Soursop,"
https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/health-benefits-soursop
